Lost and Found
by silverfae
Summary: "In twenty minutes from now you are going to lose the person most precious to you and there is nothing you can do to stop it." A oneshot written in response to a one-sentence prompt. P/E.


**Lost and Found**

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_Written for an old prompt on the kink meme: "In twenty minutes from now you are going to lose the person most precious to you and there is nothing you can do to stop it."_

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Miles turned back and raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't be absurd, Wright."

Phoenix groaned, then flung out an overdramatic arm to encompass the crowd that milled and churned in front of them. The sheer number of people was overwhelming. "Tell me you're not going to lose me in that mess the moment you spot some rare collectible."

"You're a grown man, for crying out loud. Act like one."

"You're one too, but here you are at the Steel Samurai convention." Phoenix grinned and held up his hands defensively as the prosecutor levelled a brief, unamused stare at him, but he couldn't resist. "Okay, okay. Hold my hand and we can go."

The grey gaze narrowed to a razor edge, though the beginnings of amusement quirked Miles's lips. "Like I said, you're not a child. Stop whining and move, or I'm going without you."

"Fine. You're lucky I need help with Maya's list." He huffed and mock-pouted, then trailed after Miles without further complaint. At least the view wasn't bad...

Twenty minutes later, Phoenix was well and utterly lost. He hadn't had a problem following his grey-haired, black-turtleneck-clad companion at first (especially since most of the crowd were kids), but he turned his head once to check out some memorabilia Maya had badgered him to get and lost sight of Miles completely. _Now_ what was he supposed to do? The convention hall was huge, and he wasn't sure if he would be able to call anyone and hear anything in the clamour.

Giving it up as a lost cause, he shrugged and went with the flow, picking up a mug here and a notebook there, checking Maya's list sporadically. His former assistant was in Kurain and holed up for more training, but that hadn't stopped her from calling and nearly busting his eardrums when she found out about the convention. Phoenix swore he could still hear the echoes of _"Niiiiiiiick!"_ and _"pleasegopleasepleasepleasepleaseplease"_ ringing in his ears.

Not that he would have refused. He smirked to himself and let the crowd push him along, recalling the conversation that had led to him waking up at nine on a weekend.

_"Wright, I'll be going to pick up a few things at the Steel Samurai convention this Sunday. At ten."_

_"Mm-hm." Phoenix was already busy unbuttoning the prosecutor's shirt, intent on other things._

_"Pay attention, Wright. Would you like to come with me?"_

_"Exactly what was on my mind."_

_"..You're impossible."_

There was markedly less conversation after that, but Miles hadn't seemed to mind. Pleased by the memory and humming along to the theme music blaring through the speakers peppered throughout the hall, Phoenix rounded the end of the row of stalls and came up against the side of a stage. There were clusters of fans huddling together comparing their purchases, but what caught his eye was the line of sniffling children and annoyed adults next to the platform. Curious, he threaded his way out of the jostling crowd and stood by to watch.

A few minutes of standing by confirmed his thoughts - they were the lost and the.. losters. Or something. Every so often, an announcer would lower the volume of the music and read off a list of names and descriptions, and every so often, a relieved parent or crying child would run out from the mass of humanity to be reunited to their family before disappearing back into the crowd.

It gave Phoenix ideas. Trying to contain a grin, he sidled forward and joined the line.

A young woman who was taking down the name of a little girl just in front of him straightened and cocked a brow at him. Giving the girl a brief pat of the head and a soothing whisper, she walked up to him and looked him over assessingly. "Lost a... kid, sir?"

Phoenix could hear the doubt in her voice, and he wasn't sure if he should be insulted or flattered that he didn't look old enough (or _mature_ enough, sniped a voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Miles) to have children. He settled for a crooked and hopefully charming smile. "Lost a friend, actually."

"Can't call him?"

"Uh... Phone's dead," he lied, scratching the back of his neck. He hoped she wasn't going to check - it was alive and well and... shit, it was vibrating in his pocket and playing that Steel Samurai tune he never got around to changing!

Unwilling to give up his plan, he ignored it and spoke again to distract the woman, who was staring around herself with a puzzled expression and trying to locate the noise. "Er.. can you help me with that, please? I really need to find him."

She shrugged and readied her pen. "No one told me that I couldn't, so I guess so. Who're you looking for?"

"Miles, Miles Edgeworth."

"Spell that?"

He did. She frowned as if in concentration, then did a double-take and snapped her head up. "The Demon Prosecutor?"

"Ahh..." Phoenix responded weakly, cowed by the sudden predatory gleam in her eye. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea, after all. "No, not exactly, funny story really.."

"Oh." She looked disappointed. "Well, all right, stick around and we'll see what we can do."

"Thanks." He averted his gaze as she moved on, shifting the bag of Maya's stuff to his other hand. The phone had fallen silent and still. Phoenix hoped that Miles wouldn't be too mad about him not picking up his call.

He didn't have long to wait before the music dimmed to a low murmur. "Would the parents of Ima Lawst, I repeat, the parents of Ima Lawst, please come forward to the stage... Would Miles Ed-" here there was a short flurry of conversation with the young woman who took names, watched anxiously by Phoenix, "Would er, Miles Edgeworth, I repeat, Miles Edgeworth, please come forward to the stage..."

Phoenix scanned the crowd, then jumped as his phone started up again. He was valiantly trying to ignore the tinny tune when a tug on his jeans drew his attention to the girl in front of him - Ima, was it?

She was staring at him with wide eyes, one hand on his trouser leg. "Mister, mister, your phone is ringing."

He gulped and bent down to speak to her. "No, it's okay, it's just-"

"You have a really cool phone!" she beamed, her grip tightening. "It's the Steel Samurai theme, isn't it? The Steel Samurai is really cool! My mum just got me the episodes last week, and I know he's gonna get the Evil Magistrate soon and then Neo Olde Tokyo will be safe and-"

"Wright."

Despite the icy tone of that familiar voice, Phoenix felt relief wash over him as he nodded at Ima and stood. "Yeah, the Steel Samurai is really cool, but my friend's here and I have to go." A hand clamped over his forearm and began to pull with irresistable force. Letting himself to be manhandled away from the stage, Phoenix waved at the girl with his bag of goods. "I hope your parents find you soon!"

"See you around, mister!"

As he stumbled through the crowd, hauled along by an irate Miles (who, he could quite clearly see, had obtained some goods of his own), Phoenix couldn't help grinning from ear to ear. "See, I told you that you would lose me."

Stony silence and a tighter grip, broken only by glances to either side at the stalls and stalls of merchandise.

With a grin still plastered to his face, Phoenix allowed himself to be dragged through the convention hall for the rest of the day. Not once did Miles's hold on him let up - and though he was quite certain that he would have bruises by the end of it, he was content to keep it that way.


End file.
